CANADA: A Surfeit of Lampreys

Soon after she plunged into the water for her
record swim across Lake Ontario last summer, Toronto's Marilyn Bell
felt a gnawing sensation at her middle. A sea lamprey, one of millions
of the slimy, eellike creatures that infest the Great Lakes, had sunk
its teeth through her bathing suit, and was trying to attach its
bloodsucking mouth to her body. It was as bad a moment as Marilyn had
in the whole 21-hour ordeal. "I struck hard at it with my
hand," she said later, "and my blow knocked it off."